We grew up living next door to my Great Grandmother. If we were lucky on weekend mornings she would walk across the yard with a neatly wrapped package in tin foil. Inside would be a still-warm loaf of banana or zucchini bread. Some days it would be 6 perfect blueberry muffins, made with Michigan blueberries and sugar sprinkled on the top.
Here are 3 people who have great influenced my ideals of domestic bliss:
The first one is my Great Grandmother and her cooking. One Thanksgiving she made 13 pies, from scratch! Do I want to spend hours and hours cooking? Not really, but my grandma thoroughly enjoyed cooking for others and I do too. I like when we have family and friends over for meals and I like taking the time to make good food for Jess and the girls.
The second influence was my best friend's mother. She made sure everything in their home was something beautiful that they enjoyed. Definitely a quality over quantity type family. They also greatly appreciated the handmade and valued artistic expression in home decorating.
The third was my Step-Mother Donna. Who has spent her entire life devoted to her family. Time with family is the most important part of the day. Every night she and my dad would finish the day with a hot cup of tea. I'm sure they still do. If they watched TV it was an activity that they would do together, even then it would be a family movie, usually rated PG. The TV was never on as background noise. You are much more likely to find a book in their hands than a remote control. Donna also makes sure every holiday and celebration is focused on keeping her family's thoughts towards the spiritual.
I find that each one of them has influenced how I live my day to day life and how I celebrate the holidays. Enjoying the simple pleasures of family, nature and creating are good values to have inherited from these women.
If you are wondering about the image, it's from Tasha Tudor, who is the epitome of simple living.